In case you are wondering, “How on earth can she be travelling and still continue to cook and post stories?”, here is the answer. No I am not Wonderwoman (although I always wanted to have bionic eyes like her!) I am not crazy either and stay up all night to produce these stories (I could though because let me tell you, coming back home in France involves a lot of time spent around tables or cooking and eating!). I am just organized! Yes yes, you heard well. I had prepared those stories before I left (and now you think I am crazy).

Yes food obsessed. Too much to say for just one person. Crazy.

In any case, I hope you will enjoy this one. I promise to be back visiting your blogs soon too, when I am back home. In the meantime….

Do you think that bonbons are only for kids? And would your children eat those? I mean, these are real candies in case you thought otherwise. I am told that when I was a kid, I used to be Betty Bonbon, in other words I ate a lot of candies! So much so that Madame Boyon who ran the village gas station where I would regularly go to spend every single pocket money centime (penny) I owned against candies, used to nickname me this way. Apparently I would sometimes go along with my brother, and as I was putting my candy collection on the counter with my coins in order to pay, she would tell me softly “Betty, tu n’as pas assez d’argent” (you do not have enough money), to which my brother would respond (so he says since I do not recollect this whatsoever), “ça va Madame Boyon, donnez-lui, je paye!” (It is ok Madame Boyon, give them to her, I am paying). What a sweet relationship between my brother and I you will have to admit.

Why I am pretty skeptical about this story is that beside the fact that I suspect that my brother is exaggerating as to how naughty I was and how heroic he was with me, today I am just not interested in candies at all. Aha! A proof he could just have made this up! I can only eat savoury candies, such as Tomato Candies. Yes candies with un fruit, la tomate. A good way to try to trick your kids into eating candies, don’t you think?

This brilliant idea comes from a chef of course, who else? Inspired by a recipe found in my cookbook, Tentation, I stole this idea which I adored right away, and made those goodies for l’apéritif. The key in this recipe is that once you understand the concept, the possibilities for the fillings are enormous! These amuse-bouches have to be prepared ahead of time for the most part, and are really a delightful finger food to have with a glass of…well something nice.

Count about 3 bonbons per person.

Isn’t it nice? You do no longer need to feel guilty while eating bonbons anymore! The way to go!

Yes I must say it. What an astounding idea to put a nice frozen tomato concusse enveloped in pastry, you are truly innovative. I have just begun to go thru’ your site and each rendition is a new discovery. Some creative cook are YOU !

Béatrice Peltre is a food writer, stylist and photographer working out of her home studio in Boston.
She is a regular contributor to the Boston Globe Food Section, and her work has appeared in many publications
such as Saveur, Food and Wine, Whole Living, Fine Cooking, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, the Huffington Post,
the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Edible Boston, Living France, the New York Times Diner’s Journal,
and in many other international magazines.